FACADE

30|The Weekend

JACEN JR.

"Upstairs is a big step. Drip know yet?" uncle Xavier asks before throwing a pebble at a couple of birds settled on the back wall.

I clear my throat before saying, "Yeah, Troopa neva dedeh so the night guard call him."

"Bwoy deh love exercise him authority yuh f*ck," he laughs out before picking up another pebble.

The man ago make Mum cuss Rhyeem 'bout the stones going missing from beside her flower pots.

"Him tell him f*ck off?" he adds through the chuckles.

Loud and clear.

"Hear it and the intercom never even that loud. Then Dadz ago call me and a cuss say no make no man disturb him 'bout fuckry when him a sleep. So me just take the opportunity fi tell him me a bring her upstairs instead of the guest house."

"Sleep? Disturb sleep?" he cackles out.

I shake my head. If a dat him say that's all me a stick to enuh.

"You talk to you uncle 'bout the thing?" he poses another question.

If him no do nuttin, him ago make sure everything we talked about last time gets cleared up before me can tell him nuttin else.

*Every time*

Uncle Ruse... I feel like the relationship I have with him is always balanced on eggshells. The only time we really went in about how we truly felt was when I changed my name. Dat sh*t bothered him a little but aunty Cherry did good wid it so...

The man is the spitting image of my father... so I'm not sure what he expected of me when I was younger. My brain naturally advised me to avoid him, of course... but that anuh my fault.

"No..." I trail off before deciding to pick up a pebble too.

"Ah still the only bit of family you have enuh Junior. Yahfi hear him out more while."

We both throw our pebbles at the same time.

"Him and Jessea good though..." I murmur.

Him show up like her father much more than he did for me. So him can just stick wid dat and we can have a distant uncle-nephew thing same way.

"Jessea nuh really have a Drip or a Ry'. Whitey good still but she give off strict big sister more than anything else. So if you see him do things fi her weh him never try do fi you, just know him probably just couldn't do it at the time..."

And me nuh need him fi do it now.

*I chose my parents*

"Mhmm," I decide to just agree to dead the argument.

"Unuh ago deh a the same table ah me wedding still so," his tone switches from seriousness to slight humor.

I laugh out.

"You go through it wid her family enuh," I stoop to pick up another pebble.

He does too.

"Years dem a fight me out enuh Pro," he laughs of course, but there is still a tinge of hurt settled in his voice. "True me respectful same way mek me no breed her and mek dem crumble."